Who's Minding The Tattoo Suit?

Let us get this straight. The Key West Ink tattoo parlor lawsuit against the City is going to a hearing before the Circuit Judge on Tuesday, July 31, 2007. The lawyer for Key West Ink has offered to settle and resubmitted a proposed settlement agreement to the City Attorney on Tuesday, July 24. In the settlement, the City gets the lawsuit dismissed, pays no damages, and pays no attorney's fees. The tattoo parlor gets to open and is subject to all laws the City Commission might pass, however restrictive.

However, with a deadline looming that the City has known about for months, the City, apparently, has not responded to the offer. Reportedly, the City Attorney is out of the office until Monday, July 30,2007, leaving it to the City Manager to respond to the press with some lame excuse why the City can't seem to decide if it likes the proposed settlement.

What are we going to have here, another Duck Tours case where the City now has to pay mega bucks but could have avoided doing so if it had taken the matter more seriously and made the required critical decisions in a timely manner? City officials are hired to make tough decisions, but they don't seem to be doing much of that here.

Mind you, we don't care whether there is a tattoo shop on Duval Street or not. But we do care about how the City makes decisions and how principled it is in doing so.

A decision on the tattoo parlor settlement is not rocket science, but in typical Key West fashion, the City appears to be deciding not to decide. This is just plain irresponsible.

In case the City thinks the public isn't on to this tactic of not deciding, the City is wrong. Not deciding is a decision. At least with us, the City is not going to get away with its usual mantra of, " Well, we just ran out of time. Guess we'll have to see what the judge says." The public deserves straight forward principled decision-making in its city government, and so far, in the tattoo matter at least, doesn't seem to be getting it.

Returning From A Break

It felt good to get away and take a rest from the world of blogging for a bit. It gave us a chance to research some new material and to begin work on some of the changes we had planned for this blog. Unfortunately, they are still not complete enough to flip the switch. but they are coming along and should certainly be ready to implement by the fall. In the mean time, we have tried to catch up on the news and enjoy the summer happening around us.

We notice that there is a new computer store along Truman Avenue in Key West that specifically caters to the Mac crowd. We haven't had time to visit the new store, but we hear good things. The lonely Mac group in KW has needed a store devoted to the Mac for some time now.

And the new iphone has made its debut. Anyone out there have one and can give us the real scoop on how they like it? Can we believe all the reviews?

Here in KW, the new City Manager has taken over, and is being paid what he indicated he would accept, not what he Commission's negotiator proposed.

The politicians are beginning to get their campaigns in gear. Can you believe it, former Mayor, Jimmy Weekley, who lost by 24 votes to the current mayor, is set to make another run? So the citizens will have a chance to re-think their last choice, or to say, "none of the above."

We saw one of the candidates for the Utility Board out collecting signatures for his nominating petition the other day.

Commissioner Rossi is also running again. He and Todd German are locked in an election battle and are trading contentions. Guess we expected that.

The feds have their undies in a bundle over the Hemingway cats.

The Michael Moore movie, Sicko, is at the Tropic Cinema. We haven't seen it yet, but plan to do so.

The controversy over the assisted living facility proposed for the Truman water front is raging. We noticed that Truman Annex resident and occasional commenter here, David Lybrand, was part of a debate over the issues involved in a recent edition of the Key West Citizen. Both sides make some good points, but we have not yet decided which side deserves our support. Our current feeling is that there is much that needs clarifying and not enough plain talk at the forefront of the debate. The stakes and suspicions appear to run high on both sides.

Today is Independence Day, the day to think about "a more perfect union" and to honor our freedom that we so often take for granted. When you think about that In the larger scheme of things, some of the feuds we have over civic issues in KW seem small indeed.

City Manager's Contract Up For Vote

The City Commission is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 on the Contract with the new City Manager designee. But a complete contract has not been worked out. The most important item, salary, has not been agreed to. The City's chief negotiator, Commissioner Bethel, has offered the lowest part of the salary range, $165,000, and the proposed City Manager wants $180,000. The parties are $25,000 apart.

What kind of "negotiation" did Bethel do? Sounds like slim to none to us. According to Bethel's letter of May 31, 2007 to the City Commission, he had "several conversations [presumably by phone] and a [meaning one] meeting with Scholl."

In fairness to Bethel, he notes that "he only gathered information for presentation to the Commission" and that he has "not rejected any options available to Mr. Scholl."

But it sounds like $165,000 was Bethel's first and last offer (since the Commission authorized a minimum of $165,000). According to his letter to the Commission, Bethel says he told Scholl at their meeting that he could not "support or justify any starting salary except $165,000." If that's the way it went, while that may look like tough negotiation, it is really not the give and take of negotiation on the salary at all, since, at least with Bethel, there was no room for agreement on another number. What is worse is that the tactic is also positional bargaining, which is the worst kind of bargaining when you are trying to make a deal. What Bethel did, in essence, was to put the whole matter of coming to an agreement on the essential provision of the contract back in the lap of the City Commission.

In support of his position on the salary, Bethel makes the argument that "Mr. Scholl has absolutely no experience in local government." That may be a moot point, since the Commission knew that when they chose Scholl as their number one candidate. As far as we know, their number two candidate is also a similarly situated person in that regard. If local government experience was the sticking point, then a person with local government experience should have been the first choice of the Commissioners. He was not.

Moreover, Mr. Scholl's Navy administrative and management experience has included dealing with local government, including the likes of these Key West Commissioners. And Scholl's federal responsibilities were awesome compared to those of a Key West City Manager. So it seems to us that Bethel's argument doesn't hold much water and is not the result of a serious look at the interests of each side. He can do better.

We realize Bethel has to keep his rep as a fiscal conservative, but he seems to be playing a game of "salary chicken" here. Will the City blink or will Scholl blink? If the game continues, win or lose, there will be hard feelings and perhaps an unwise less durable agreement. Besides, the negotiation with the new City Manager is not, we hope, about winning. It is about problem solving.

There has got to be a place of compromise somewhere between the two positions. Perhaps the parties can find ways to expand the pie and find desired value in non-monetary options. Also, there is often value in difference. Creating it is what smart seasoned negotiators do all the time. Perhaps the parties may want to think about the possibility of deferred value. Are there things the Commission can agree to implement later that will have equivalent or greater value than what is presently desired by Mr. Scholl?

It seems to us that there is much negotiation left to be done and that Commissioner Bethel's efforts have barely scratched the surface. $25,000 is not a very big gap between the parties as gaps go. Closing that gap should not be hard. That Scholl did not insist on the top of the salary range is significant and indicates a willingness to compromise. But the City should not read that willingness as a sign of weakness. That would be a grave mistake. We fear that's how the Commission may see it, however.

It is in the interest of the City to compromise. Will they? How the Commissioners handle this negotiation will likely set the tone for their relationship with the new City Manager. The Commissioners in their ego-driven zeal forget that they are not in the driver's seat on this one. Mr. Scholl does not need this job. He lives up the Keys where it is cheaper than Key West and has his Navy retirement to fall back on. The City needs a City Manager. Will the City Commissioners be penny wise and pound stupid here? The voters should watch and stick it to them in November if the Commissioners botch this one. What is about to unfold will likely be pure politics and coupled with a good deal of grandstanding.

Absent from this episode will be the Commissioner whose district includes Truman Annex, Bill Verge. He will be on vacation. He has asked the Commission to delay its consideration of the annexation of Christmas Tree Island (Wisteria Island) because of his vacation. Does he have his priorities straight? Isn't choosing a City Manager more important than Christmas Tree Island? Did he ask the Commission to postpone the vote on the City Manager? Shouldn't all the Commissioners and the Mayor be present for that vote? We think so.

If the vote on the City Manager's salary issue were to be put off, it would give the City time to re-think its negotiating stance and allow the parties a chance to back away from their positional bargaining; maybe even reach a compromise. Wouldn't that be something to cheer about?

Getting Even

As we have observed, masterful politicians don't get mad, they just get even. And City Manager, Julio Avael, that master of politics, has done just that to his detractors and their efforts at control by granting raises to the Chief of Police and the Assistant City Manager. These raises were neither small nor (in the case of the Assistant City Manager) uncontroversial. Avael's payback not only rewarded these public servants for their loyalty and hard work in certain areas, but exercised a prerogative granted by the City Charter to the City Manager that the Commissioners and future City Manager are now stuck with. Avael's move also emphasized once again the message of all good bubbas: that if you stick with this bubba, you'll do all right. And do all right in the pay department they did.

The Mayor and some Commissioners had been out to get Avael. They made no secret they wanted him out, and some even wanted him fired or worse. They were playing for keeps, but they were playing with fire.

Now, the sputtering Mayor and seemingly politically inept Commissioners have been caught napping at the game of politics while the shrewd and knowledgeable Master has cunningly out maneuvered them. It was so easy; it must have felt like taking candy from a baby. And all the Mayor and Commissioners can do now is put their best face on it and whine a bit.

Undo the raises? Not a chance, which is why the whines were not screams or howls. The Mayor and Commissioners knew they'd been had by the Master, and all they could do is wonder how it happened and what just had occurred. It was all so smooth.

Even when gone and as he moves into retirement, Avael has, of course, unwittingly insured he will remain in the good graces of the Assistant City Manager and Chief of Police. Should Avael remain in Key West, his bridges to important influence in City government remain in tact.

In many ways Avael plays the game of politics like another master, Sam Rayburn, maybe the most masterful of all House Speakers at the game of politics. It's a gift few have. Rayburn taught it to Lyndon Johnson, who forgot it during Vietnam by listening to the wrong crowd. We dare say Avael didn't have such distinguished mentors; but regardless of what you think of him, he sure has the gift. Let's hope he is willing and able to pass some of this gift to his successor, who surely will need it.

The Commissioners also could learn much from the masterful political lesson Avael has just administered. But in their arrogance, we fear they won't. What they really should be worried about is what else is in store for them in the remaining days of Avael's term. There may be more to this than meets their dollar.

So now the fun begins. As granddaddy once said, "He who laughs last, laughs best." Or, as Jackie Gleason used to say, "How sweet it is!"

We Were Right! It's The Navy Man!

Our political prognostications about who the KW City Commission would pick for a new City Manager to succeed Julio Avael were correct. The number one choice of the City Commission is former Navy base commander, Jim "Dagwood" Scholl. Second place went to Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jeff Hathaway. Third place went to Gary Edwards, City Manager of Moberly, Missouri.

Only the Mayor and Commissioner Bill Verge, whose district includes Truman Annex, had other "favorite sons." Verge's choice came in second. The Mayor's choice was out of the running.

In an interesting twist, the Commission picked Commissioner Harry Bethel, who is retiring, to lead the contract negotiations with Scholl. This was probably a wise move, since after Bethel leaves, the City Manager will no longer be politically beholden to him. The new Manager's negotiated contract will still need Commission approval, but Bethel, as the most fiscally conservative of the Commissioners, should be able to convince the rest to go along with whatever monetary amount is negotiated.

The Commissioners have set a salary range for the new City Manager of between $160,000 and $200,000 per year, which is considerably more than the present City Manager, Julio Avael is making.

ADDED: Turns out some other Commissioners also had "favorite sons," including Commissioner Bethel, whose choice also came in second.

We'll Know Tonight

Tonight is when the City Commission is supposed to rank the City Manager Candidates. The Commission will then begin negotiations with the top one for a salary somewhere between $165,000 and $200,000. This is way up from the current City Manager's salary range.

We'll see if our predictions of who the Commission will choose are close. You can review profiles of the candidates in the front page article in The Citizen.

Did Cutting The Mangroves Impact Flooding?

With reference to the flooding now going on in KW, Assistant City Manager John Jones is right: "There is nothing [they] can do about it." Now, that is. The City should have thought about this possibility before it cut the mangroves near the flooded area without a permit.

What city officials didn't mention in their attempt to explain that it wasn't the cutting of the mangroves that caused the flooding is that there is silt now filling up the culverts and that the water has no where to go. Of course, it wasn't the cutting of the mangroves that promoted that. Yeah, right.

While We Were AWOL

While we've been away from blogging for a week, the news has not waited.

In KW, according to The Citizen, the City has announced it has narrowed the field for the new City Manager to six. Our prediction is the new manager will be a Navy man, with the Coast Guard rear admiral a close second. We'll just have to wait and see if our read of the political tea leaves is accurate.

Paris Hilton, reportedly, will make a foray to KW on her way to an all important date on or about June 5 with a Los Angeles jail. Nothing like taking the long way around.

The hurricane insurance battle continues in the legislature. A Senate Bill has passed freezing Citizen's rates until 2009, but there is much left to be done to push insurance reforms ahead. The battle will continue, as will the efforts to derail any reforms.

The costs for the Monroe County Courthouse continue to increase.

And, TAMPOA has made good on its pledge to re-file the lawsuit against the City and the United States that had been dismissed by the federal court in April. The filing was not quite as quick as TAMPOA had announced it would be, but the suit has been re-filed (with a new case number). The TAMPOA suit starts anew, and TAMPOA must re-serve the defendants with the new summons and complaint.

TAMPOA has learned from the dismissal though. This time around, the summons is typed, not hand written (an insignificant matter, but it does show attention to detail, and it just looks better). This time around, TAMPOA got the summons for each defendant issued right away on the day of filing the new suit (May 8) instead of waiting for some time as in the previous case. And now, the City and its Mayor, instead of the City Attorney (as in the previous case), are listed (in the summons for the City) as those to whom the summons is addressed and from whom a response is requested. We hazard a guess that someone may have gone over these papers (and perhaps the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) with a fine-tooth comb before they were lodged with the Clerk of Court. We'll have more to report in the coming weeks as the suit progresses.

In case you haven't noticed, the sky is a different color at sunset these days. It's the wild fires from the mainland that are having an effect.

It's All About Leverage

And City Manager, Julio Avael, has used it to his advantage. Avael, it appears, will leave in August and get paid through November under a deal that the City has made to get him to remove his name from the list of applicants for the City Manager's Job.

As we recall, Avael was already likely to leave in November. Under the sweet new deal, he gets out in August but still gets paid through November. The new deal is also a concession that the City is not likely to find sufficient evidence to terminate Avael for cause before August.

What does the City get? On the face of the deal, not much, unless it is vital to the City to have Avael gone -- more vital than simply not having to reject him for the new Manager's job. But if the City Fathers have a hidden agenda regarding the new Manager's appointment, then maybe they got a lot more than they are willing to acknowledge. Since not much goes on in Key West politics that doesn't involve a hidden agenda, one has got to suspect such an agenda here.

The Probe Widens

Who (or what) is behind the investigation by the State Attorney's Office into the alleged illegal practices by the City in its Licensing Department? The investigation seems like much ado about much of nothing unless there is more to this than meets the dollar. We're talking about a couple of misdemeanors here. And the accused isn't going anywhere -- certainly not to jail -- except back to work.

However, the State Attorney's Office would seem to be treating the matter almost like it has become the crime of the century. A subpoena has been issued to the City from that office to look at documents requiring the signature of a building official and bearing the signature of the Assistant City Manager or any other non-licensed building official. Is this subpoena really about getting evidence to pile on additional charges against the Assistant City Manager or something else?

We think there has to be more to the event than any one is so far saying. We find it difficult to believe this is just all about the Assistant City Manager. We wonder, would the former code enforcement officer, who is also a retired cop (a detective we believe), have any incite into the whole matter? Perhaps the target is the City Manager, but so far the State's Attorney appears to be holding only duces while looking for a pair of aces that likely don't exist.